The Protection of Jewish property
There has been a tremendous amount of damage and neglect as a result of
wars in XX century, especially after the last one, eleven years ago. Once
again the remaining Jews were forced to reconsider their future in
Balkans. Many decided to leave for more secure places, while those who
stayed barely have the strength to protect and maintain the heritage of
their once rich and numerous Jewish communities. War, vandalism and
neglect have taken their toll, and without the energetic measures of the
wider community, many examples of Jewish art will soon disappear.
The situation worsened after recently ended war: the situation of present
and former Jewish Communal property due to the absence of Jews that
disappeared in Holocaust or made aliyah in Israel, lack of financial
resources is more and more desperate and the historical organism of the
Jewish habitat is in many places about to be lost forever. Anti-Semitism
that in absence of sufficient targets turns towards unprotected real estate
is also taking its toll – countries of Former Yugoslavia are not spared of
that in Europe common phenomenon.
While Jews were not directly targeted in the war that ended eleven years
ago and resulted in dissolution of Yugoslavia in five (now six) new states,
they were still seriously affected by it, causing many to leave their homes.
As a result, Jewish sites, synagogues, cemeteries and other communal
buildings, already neglected due to the lack of concern by the previous
regime and the minimal financial resources of the Jewish communities,
are further endangered.
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Most Jewish monuments, however, were destroyed and / or have
disappeared during the Nazi occupation and during the 53 - year
Communist regime. During this time Jewish monuments received only a
minimum of care - in fact they were often deliberately destroyed for no
reason at all. It wasn't until after November 1989 that it became possible
for the first time in history to set about the systematic documentation and
preservation of Jewish monuments.
The material culture is most susceptible to change and destruction in
today’s rapidly changing societies and special effort must therefore be
invested to protect or at least record it as it is the most effective tool for
educating our younger generation about its tradition and history. But
given the large numbers, scattered geographical locations and poor
condition of Jewish heritage sites, urgent challenges remain.
Except in a few places, the condition of Jewish sites is desperate.
Synagogues and buildings of Jewish Communal infrastructure, in many
cases nationalized or confiscated by the previous regime, are collapsing
one after another. Some are now apartment buildings, some factories,
workshops or stores, their exteriors so changed that it is almost
impossible to recognize them as buildings once used as houses of
worship, or to fulfill various cultural, educational, humanitarian and
administrative needs. Some are used for cultural purposes, and in these
cases their maintenance is relatively good. However, in general very few
synagogues and other Jewish buildings remain in acceptable condition.
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The fate of cemeteries is even gloomier. I have discovered forgotten
small Jewish cemeteries, lost outside of towns on the remote slope of
hills, facing the places where those buried once lived, and where today,
nobody remembers them. I have also found cemeteries in small towns or
villages with only one or two remaining Jews, lost in their loneliness and
wondering who will protect the cemeteries from invaders and the ravages
of time. I documented these cemeteries, and at least left a sense of
comfort that from now on these cemeteries are again a part of the Jewish
world, connected with the mainstream which for decades passed them by.
In many places with Catholic Christian majority, many fragments of
Jewish tombstones could be found used as building material for paving
streets and repairing of the city walls. Recently I have found tombstones
from 16th and 17th century build-in on the top of the city walls of
Dubrovnik.
And as a curiosum, in September of the year 2004 in central Bosnia I
have discovered a sole tombstone of a Jewish merchant from the end of
15th century, inscribed in Bosnian glagolytic script in local language,
something never seen before.
Many of the towns visited and surveyed for the purpose of our Project
show no evidence of the former Jewish communities. In most cases
synagogues and cemetery chapels have been destroyed and in certain
cases, only a few monuments remain in the cemeteries in varying degree
of decay. Archival research, however, revealed a wealth of information
about the former communities, which our researchers use to recreate
"virtually" the property of lost communities. There are cca 130 names
under which one could find various Jewish Communal institutions in the
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Kingdom of Yugoslavia, till April 1941. Researchers found documents
that can prove the ownership over the forcibly taken Jewish communal
properties during the WW II and in its aftermath – under various pretexts
and conditions; pictures and plans of synagogues and chapels that no
longer exist, as well as plans of extant synagogues and other buildings in
their various stages of construction and restoration.
136 Jewish Communities existed in Yugoslavia before 1941 and there are
297 sites connected in some way with the rich Jewish past of the country.
Many synagogues, prayer halls, cemeteries, cemetery chapels, Mikvaot
(ritual baths) and several museum collections with ritual objects and
tombstones, buildings of various Jewish institutions, schools, Rabbinic
houses, Mausoleums, ritual slaughterhouses, also collections of paintings
in various Museums, made by Jewish painters.
Here is the tentative overview of Jewish Communal property and visual
heritage that clearly shows that our effort to locate, identify and request
our heritage is a race against time; the following shall be eligible, some
for designation as National Monuments and some for the temporary legal
protection: movable or immovable property of great importance to a
group of people with common cultural, historic, religious or ethnic
heritage, such as monuments of architecture, art or history; archaeological
sites; groups of buildings; as well as cemeteries.
COUNTRIES OF FORMER YUGOSLAVIA
(The tentative list, based on survey, research in progress)
SYNAGOGUES AND PRAYER-HALLS: 47
(BEFORE WW II: 154)
Many among them small synagogues in towns and villages, which survived mainly
because they had been converted into residential or commercial buildings.
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MIKVEH (BEFORE WW II: 25): 3
CEMETERIES: 254
(BEFORE WW II: 272)
CEMETERY CHAPELS: 30
(BEFORE WW II: 47)
FAMILY MAUSOLEUMS (ON CEM.): 27
ARCHEOLOGICAL SITES: 25
JEWISH COMMUNAL BUILDINGS: Research in progress
(BEFORE WW II – DATA NOT
AVAILABLE, BUT IT COULD BE
ESTIMATED THAT THE NUMBER IS
CLOSE TO 1500 PROPERTY UNITS)
JEWISH MUSEUMS: 3
(DOCUMENTATION OF COLLECTIONS
NOT AVAILABLE)
JUDAICA COLLECTIONS
OUTSIDE OF JEW. MUSEUMS: 14
(DOCUMENTATION OF COLLECTIONS
PARTLY AVAILABLE)
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS:
(DOCUMENTATION OF COLLECTIONS
PARTLY AVAILABLE)
PILGRIMAGE SITES: 1
UNDEFINED JEWISH SITES: 2
HOLOCAUST-RELATED
MEMORIAL SITES, MEMORIAL
PLAQUES, MONUMENTS: 250 (app.)
GHETTOES, JEWISH STREETS,
JEWISH TOPONYMS: 19 (app)
JEWISH MODERN ART:
(DOCUMENTATION OF COLLECTIONS
NOT AVAILABLE)
Some examples of Jewish artifacts outside of Jewish Museums:
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TRAVNIK
In the depot of the City museum are four recently discovered silver artifacts, thought
to be from the house of one of the oldest Jewish families of Travnik. There are two
silver Esther Scroll cases, a silver book cover belonging to the family of Yaacov
Yeruham Konforti, and a silver belt. The cache was found while digging the
foundations of a new house in 1989. It was presumably hidden and buried at the site
of Konforti’s house.
One of the Esther Scrolls is engraved with Konforti’s name and the date 5650 (1890).
There is also an engraved floral decoration and a hallmark indicating that this was
made by the same artisan who made the prayer book cover.
The second Esther Scroll is silver, machine stamped and chased. A cartouche
decorating the scroll has a decorative monogram with the letters JK, probably Jacob
or Jeruham Konforti.
The silver book cover is engraved with an open work interlaced foliage motif. On the
front cover there is an oval medallion inscribed with the family name and the date
5650. The back cover is identical to the front including the oval, but without the
inscription. Both the engraving and the cutting for the open work are done by
machine.
The fourth item that was found in the cache is a silver belt made with a floral motif.
ZENICA
In the depot of city museum is a small collection of ritual objects. In the collection
are: silver Torah finials dated 1896 from the Sephardi community, with a Hebrew
inscription engraved at the base mentioning the name Montilijo; a German nickel-
plated gilt Torah finial; a German nickel, pressed Hanukah lamp decorated with two
twisted columns and Tablets of the Law on a shield supported by two rampant lions; a
German nickel Hanukah lamp with cast brass rampant lions flanking a bell-shaped
centerpiece; dark wood Torah staves with diamond shaped inlays of mother-of-pearl;
and an Esther scroll.
And so on, and so on….
Here are some examples of present condition of Jewish Communal structures in
various parts of Former Yugoslavia, documented in the last couple of years.
CROATIA
Unfortunately I had a number of times witnessed patterns of anti-Semitism, in places
in Croatia which are for a long time without Jews (for well known historic reasons).
The most unpleasant among them was when I found a private WC, built adjacent to
the synagogue, that was converted to a factory, in (Podravska) Slatina, Croatia, with
Tablets of Law and the dedication of the Synagogue posted as a threshold (with the
approval of the local Catholic priest, as shamelessly claimed by the owner.
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In Kutina the Jewish part of the City communal cemetery is completely vandalized,
not a single grave remained untouched, and all stones are broken an overturned.
In Orahovica rare visitors are forced to enter the Jewish cemetery through a pig-stable
that is built on the entrance.
In Djurdjevac a Roma (Gipsy) village has been built over the Jewish cemetery and has
"eaten" it – only two overturned tombstones of Cohanim are visible in the middle of
the village road.
Lipik, Pakrac, Pleternica, and a number of other towns and villages in Slavonia, were
in the middle of war zone during the recent war (1991 – 95), and all Jewish
cemeteries are heavily damaged, remaining tombstones have deep scars of bullets and
it is not possible to find out has it been deliberately done.
In Dubrovnik fragments of a number of medieval Jewish tombstones are built in the
streets, staircases and walls in the historic core of the city and the municipality is not
showing any intention to remove them to some safer depository.
Almost on all bigger cemeteries are from time to time cases of spraying with various
anti-Semitic graffiti's and obscenities.
SERBIA & MONTENEGRO
The same situation is in Serbia & Montenegro.
On the Jewish cemetery in Novi Pazar a relative of a local politician build a house,
leveling a part of the cemetery.
The historic cemetery in Nis is under attack from private entrepreneurs who had
destroyed about one third of the cemetery with small factories and storages. On the
other third of the site Roma (Gypsies) save settled thirty years ago, built a settlement
over the graves and vandalized the remaining part. Recently JOINT-USA financed a
rescue operation on the cemetery, remaining third has been cleaned and the action has
exposed the extent of damages on the remaining 1000 graves.
In Leskovac the entire Jewish cemetery has been destroyed during reconstruction of
the road leading to the orthodox Christian cemetery.
In Srbobran the municipality simply bulldozed the Jewish cemetery making the place
for new buildings. Tombs were pushed a couple of hundred meters and covered with
dirt. Rains washed the dirt and exposed remnants of tombstones and it is now the free
quarry for local builders.
In Zabalj all stones from the Jewish part of Communal cemetery disappeared, and
nobody could give any information about their destiny. But, many stones on
surrounding parts that belong to other denominations show a striking resemblance to
Jewish tombstones on other cemeteries in the region.
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About 20 cemeteries in the Vojvodina province had disappeared in the last 20-30
years.
Sometimes we have information about a various forgotten Jewish ritual buildings but
we simply don't know would it be better to leave them hidden and forgotten or to
bring them to attention, risking their quick destruction to make space for some
development. It was the case with the Mique, Jewish ritual bathhouse in Pirot,
southeast Serbia that was in a dense thicket, in a region where Jews had not lives
since World War II. I went there four years ago to document it; the undergrowth was
so thick that I felt like the prince who came to release the sleeping beauty. Suddenly,
in the middle of that jungle, I saw a gorgeous ritual bathhouse from the Ottoman
period. The neighboring synagogue has gone decades ago, but it still stands,
witnessing the Jewish presence in Pirot, "judenrein" since 1943.
In Podgorica, Montenegro is a world-known archeological site from late Roman
period and on the part that has been cemetery a unique Jewish tomb with remnants of
two bodies has been found in early sixties. A couple of years ago a local politician has
built a house exactly on the site of that tomb and destroyed it.
A number of Holocaust-related monuments and memorial plaques are damaged,
sprayed with anti-Semitic graffiti or destroyed
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA
The historic Old Sephardic cemetery in Sarajevo (beginning of XVIIc) with 3800
tombstones has been under attacks of hooligans (then it has not been called anti-
Semitism) many times before dissolution of former Yugoslavia, many monuments
have been damaged or destroyed. During the last war (1992-1995) the cemetery was
on the confrontation line between the Serbs and the Bosnians, and due to heavy
fighting the entire cemetery suffered great damage, both the monuments and the
cemetery chapel. After the war a couple of times the cemetery has been attacked and
recently about 30 tombstones were overturned or heavily damaged. Also many
tombstones were sprayed with various anti-Semitic messages, crosses and half-
crescents.
In Tuzla, I have found that a dry cleaning store was once the city's Sephardi
synagogue. The owner of the store, a Palestinian who used to live in the Gaza Strip,
happily cooperated in documenting of the site, telling me that the space was his award
for participation in the recent war.
In Zvornik I have documented the building that used to be the synagogue, has been
sold and converted into a private home. The local researchers said there was nothing
there but the owner of the house took me up to the attic and showed me preserved
painted ceiling, full of Jewish stars that he didn't want to destroy.
A synagogue in Travnik is a metal workshop, and cemeteries in many other sites were
turned into garbage dumps.
And so on, and so on……
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Given the large numbers, scattered geographical locations, new political
divisions in the area and poor condition of Jewish heritage sites, urgent
challenges remain.
For decades after World War II, there was little interest -- among both
Jews and non-Jews -- in preserving or documenting Jewish sites that had
survived both the destruction of the Holocaust and demographic shifts of
Jewish populations. Many Jews wanted nothing to do with sites that they
believed were vestiges of a closed chapter in Jewish history.
Even 10 years ago, information was hard to come by in many countries
and little systematic documentation existed. Few publications addressed
the issue. Centuries-old synagogues were used as warehouses or left to
crumble, Jewish Community buildings were forcibly removed from
owners and even the location of many cemeteries had slipped out of
memory.
But since the late 1980s -- and particularly since the fall of communism
opened up Eastern and Central Europe to scholars -- Jewish heritage has
become increasingly recognized as a rich legacy for Europe as a whole
and embraced as an important component of multicultural society. That
provokes a whole set of questions:
"What should become of these monuments, which include hundreds of
abandoned cemeteries and thousands of neglected buildings or ruined
synagogues?"
"In the absence of Jewish communities in many places, what purpose
should these monuments serve?"
"Which sites should be restored, how should they be paid for and who
should care for them?"
"What do Jewish monuments represent vis-a-vis local cultural heritage in
general?"
"Is it possible -- or necessary -- to devise a global strategy for the
conservation and protection of Jewish monuments?"
A joint effort would be needed to establish scientific and professional
basis for appropriate evaluation of architectural heritage, which gives an
opportunity to create or establish a strong professional synergy of
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individuals from both entities who could deal with the protection of all
kinds Jewish visual heritage. That would help to overcome problems
when reviewing reconstruction of architectural heritage since basic
professional principles are often challenged, in other words, rehabilitation
is carried out on the basis of insufficiently accurate principles, with a high
degree of improvisation and, consequently, properties reconstructed in
such a manner cannot stay on the potential Provisional List of Jewish
National Monuments. It is therefore necessary to engage all thinking
people and profesionals in the protection of cultural heritage, particularly
those who are specialised in that field.
Stating that, we are not inventing what is allready invented; there exist for
decades the Convention on the Protection of World Cultural Heritage; the
Convention on The Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit
Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property; the
European Convention on the Protection of Archaeological Property; the
Convention on the Protection of Architectural Property; the European
Convention on Culture and many other acts that serve exactly that
purpose.
Protection of cultural property is integral part of a Constitutional category
of the protection of public properties. Protection of cultural-historical
heritage has a long lasting history in the countries of former Yugoslavia.
Laws in new countries allready exist, based on the basic Law from 1982,
and they recognize their key activity – adopting decisions to designate
identified movable and real estate properties as national monuments in
compliance with single, agreed criteria, in an efficient manner and
strongly manifested professionalism. The issue here, then, is not practical
– it is political.
Since we have in all countries of former Yugoslavia only a handful
buildings and sites of Jewish denomination protected by Law, we are in
urgent need to create a Provisional List of Jewish National Monuments
(for each country) that should be immediately petitioned in every country
to be put under the TEMPORARY PROTECTION, and only then the
professional body could handpick those buildings and sites that should be
under permanent legal protection by recognized standards after the
adoption of a final decision. This should prevent any illegal action with
any property that is on the Provisional List for an agreed period of time.
Jewish heritage represents an important factor in the identification of
population without particular territory. Therefore, due to harsh, disastrous
Jewish experience of the past, especially in countires like the countries of
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former Yugoslavia rehabilitation of cultural heritage is of major symbolic
significance, constitutes one of key steps of ensuring respect of
fundamental human rights.
Awareness about systematic destruction and misuse of cultural heritage in
the previous period, as well as in the wars that marked the 20th century,
particularly in this region, urgently asks for strong action in the area of
protection, aimed primarily at alleviating consequences of destruction to
the extent highest possible and at protecting Jewish buildings and sites
from further devastation, regardless of its cause.
Modalities must be dicussed how to ensure, in addition to existing
legislations the scope of a larger regional project that will provide a
direct and efficient communication and efficient protection of our
heritage. It is important that two principles be honoured –to avoid
political connotations in regard to cultural heritage and to ensure serious
approach at protecting cultural heritage by the state itself, with no
interference in the field of ownership issues.
Definition of eligibility in each and every case would be eased by
adopting a set of principles, taking into consideration that for
proclamation of the property as a national monument, property and
political criterions are not of special importance.
Criteria to create the Provisional List of Jewish National Monuments
I. A SUBJECT OF LEGAL PROTECTION
A) PORTABLE CULTURAL PROPERTY (INDIVIDUAL OR IN
COLLECTIONS), ACCORDING TO THE FOLLOWING
CLASSIFICATION:
Small objects (home furnishings, clothing, working equipment, tools,
handicraft products, etc.)
paintings,
books,
sculptures,
building fragments,
inscriptions, etc.
B) IMMOVABLE CULTURAL PROPERTY:
1. Historic buildings and monuments
residential,
religious,
educational,
administrative,
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public,
commercial,
infrastructure,
hygienic,
agricultural,
industrial, etc.
2. Groups of buildings (which are either part of a composition with a
certain purpose or an agglomeration which is the result of continuous
building in a historic core)
residential,
religious,
educational,
administrative,
public,
commercial,
infrastructure,
hygienic,
agricultural,
industrial, etc.
3. Sites
urban,
rural,
archaeological,
historical,
industrial,
cultural landscape
natural site related to some ritual or tradition,
natural-scientific,
mixed.
II. VALUE
A. Time frame
(properties arisen from the prehistoric times until the end of
XX century)
B. Historic value
(association of a building, or group or place to a historic
figure in the history or a significant event in the history)
C. Artistic and aesthetic value
i. Quality of workmanship,
ii. Quality of material,
iii. Proportions,
iv. Composition,
v. Value of a detail,
vi. Structural value.
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D. Clarity (documentary, scientific and educational or
pedagogic value)
i. Material evidence about less known historic era,
ii. Evidence of historic changes,
iii. Work of a famous artist or builder,
iv. Evidence of certain type, style or regional manner,
v. Evidence of a typical lifestyle in the certain era.
E. Symbolic value
i. Ontology value,
ii. Sacral value,
iii. Traditional value,
iv. Relation to the rituals or traditions,
v. Significance for the identity of a group of people.
F. Townscape/Landscape value
i. Relation of the form in the comparison with other
parts of the group,
ii. Meaning in the townscape,
iii. A building or a group of buildings is a part of a group
or site.
G. Authenticity
i. Form and design,
ii. Materials and substance,
iii. Use and function,
iv. Traditions and techniques,
v. Location and setting,
vi. Spirit and feeling, and
vii. Other internal and external factors.
H. Uniqueness/rarity
i. The single or rare example of a object type or style,
ii. A masterpiece of workmanship or course,
iii. Work of a prominent artist/ architect, craftsman.
I. Integrity (groups, sites, collections)
i. Material wholeness,
ii. Homogeneity,
iii. Completeness,
iv. Unimpaired condition.
Respect of suggested criteria will facilitate the petitioning for the general
Provisional List of Jewish National Monuments or for particular
buildings, sites or objects to apply for the permanent legal protection in
the countries of location, and even for the submission for inscription on
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the UNESCO World Heritage List, the World Monuments' Watch List of
100 Most Endangered Sites, and others alike.
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